Orb Weaver Plague: Chapter 9B Interlude

Emily frowned. Taylor Hebert’s father was building himself up into… well, she wasn’t a parent, but she’d dealt with parahumans, and this wasn’t going to help.

“Investigator,” she said. “If you want, maybe you could thank Clockblocker? It will spare us from his…”

“Cries?” Taylor said in that very calm voice of hers. A glance at Danny showed she knew what Emily was thinking.

And a little relief, unless that’s also a thinker facade. You could never be certain.

“Of course,” she said. Miss Militia nodded and gestured for Taylor to follow her. Finally, Emily was alone with Taylor Hebert.

“Mr. Hebert. You’re angry.”

“Angry? Angry?  She promised to stay on little stuff, and now—a mastermind with mercenaries, and the Empire?”

“And a Teacher’s Pet.” Emily nodded. “And due to her… association with Orb Weaver, the Empire again, in the process of saving a 14-year-old girl. Who went on, due to being alive, to save two small children.” And I would like to know just what association that is. It was clear that it was far more than a casual meeting, and Hebert hadn’t done anything—that she knew of—to create the rumored bad blood between them. “And the problem with the promise your daughter made is that she can keep it—by ignoring others.” She sighed. “I have a psychological profile of The Investigator, which is done up on all parahumans, especially Thinkers, given how dangerous they can be.”

“Is that legal?”

“Yes, it didn’t use any confidential information, but Thinkers oriented around information gathering or manipulation can be terrifyingly dangerous.”

“What does it say?”

“That her trigger was almost certainly in the locker, but not because of the locker. Many parahumans trigger at the end of a long series of events. In this case, our analysts believe that she desperately needed to know why she’d been turned on. How could people do this to her? How could people ignore her?”

Now Mr. Hebert was looking away, no doubt remembering how he hadn’t noticed. Emily wasn’t upset. Angry parents led to domestic issues which were bad enough by themselves, let alone when you mixed a parahuman into the situation. Like Missy, and some day her parents are going to give me an excuse…

“Traditionally, Thinkers like that go in one of two directions. They punish those who wronged them, or they move beyond and try not to be those who wronged them. Taylor was ignored, and yet her entire cape career has been not ignoring those in need. People were malicious to her, and yet if you remember her victim statement she went out of her way to remind the court that Madison was in danger—and right now, she intervened in a situation, at the risk of her own life, when all she had to do was stand aside, and we might see Madison Birdcaged or even given a kill order.”

Very unlikely, but possible, and Mr. Hebert just needs to know the upper limits of how Taylor could have screwed one of her tormentors over.

Mr. Hebert took a deep breath. “Fine. She’s a good kid. I knew that. But she’s not going to be lucky all the time. Panacea can’t bring the dead back to life—“ and then he looked at Emily. “And I’m not  an idiot. She’s doing things she could never do officially if she was a Ward.”

“Guilty.” Emily nodded. “We knew that as well. On the other hand, just because she’s not allowed to do them doesn’t mean she wouldn’t do them—and Mr. Hebert, after Ms. Hess? I will not accept any member of the Wards who is not fully on board with the idea.”

“And when Hookwolf comes for her?”

“That is…unlikely, at least right now. The Empire has suffered a blow.” Emily gestured at an image. “Some people recorded the events and then put them on PHO after the fight.” She heard Mr. Hebert suck in his breath at the scene, the camera jerking back and forth as Madison made a fluttering “shoo” motion with her hands and a gang member went flying across the street, as ghosts attacked her, immaterial spears shattering against her skin.  “I expect your daughter didn’t want to worry you more than she had, or she was incorrect, but I don’t think the attack on her was a mistake. Crusader was angry and he’s a neonazi.”

“Which means?”

“For those in the know? The empire attacked the very person they were claiming to champion. For those not in the know? It’s plain that The Investigator and the Undersiders were on the way to talking Madison down when a group of drugged up Empire thugs launched an attack that did no damage and might have provoked an Alexandria tier cape. I expect Kaiser is going to want to avoid adding more fuel to the fire, but I will give you and Taylor panic buttons.” Though I doubt she’ll carry hers when she’s on the job.

“Fine. I won’t ground her until she’s 40.” He sighed. “And the man trying to kidnap Dinah?”

“Still under investigation.” And he was probably involved in turning off the network.  But that wasn’t something Emily could tell Mr. Hebert. Not with all the evidence they were compromised.

A light flashed on her desk. Emily nodded. “Mr. Hebert, Armsmaster needs to consult with me regarding Ms. Clements. If you have any other questions, I’ll be available after that.”

“No.”

“Very well, you’ll also have to stop by accounting. There is a reward for bringing in capes to speak with the PRT in a peaceful manner, and The Investigator has certainly earned it…”

“Thank you.”

*****

When Colin entered the room, he found Director Piggot frowning at her paperwork.

“Problems, Bosslady?” Assault asked.

“I just had to head off a family issue,” Director Piggot said. “Armsmaster, what are your findings regarding Ms. Clements.”

“To start, these are preliminary ratings. But Changer/Brute 8-9, striker 7, Mover 5.”  Armsmaster frowned.

“Changer?”

“Yeah,” Assault said, gesturing at her screen, showing a timid looking Madison wearing a PRT jumpsuit. “Calm her down and she shifts back, but…”

“Brute 3-4, mover 3, in her base form,” Armsmaster said. “And there appears to be a response to threats that quickly shapes her back into her changer form.” Another image showed, as a siren sounded, and  Madison jumped, the clothing shredding around her as she hit the roof, leaving a dent in  the reinforced material, before hitting the ground, gouging holes in it.

“You seem unusually tentative with these ratings,” Emily said. “Why?”

“She’s… holding back.” Armsmaster said.

“She’s terrified of hurting someone,” Assault said, and for once he didn’t sound like an eight-year-old on a sugar high. “Granted, that’s not bad with someone who could probably get into a slugging match with Leviathan, but Armsie wasn’t able to get her to fully cut loose, which is probably good for our budget.”

“That is the other problem, yes, in several areas our equipment is incapable of fully gauging her capabilities. Her claws were able to slice through any samples provided and her strength exceeded our test unit’s capability.” He paused. “But placing her with the Wards might—“

“Whoah,” Assault said. “I’m gonna say that’s a bad idea, you know, put Locker Girl in with the Wards, a good chunk of whom probably can think of people who bullied them or their friends in the past.”

Armsmaster frowned, but Emily nodded. The Wards weren’t like a PRT strike team, but there was nothing more damaging to morale than someone who didn’t have your back—and they’d already gone through that with Sophia.

“She appears to be attempting to make good…”

“Which might go the other way, or someone may push her the wrong way and as Assault said, ‘slugging match with Leviathan.’ At the very least, if she’s with the Wards, Youth Guard will demand she not be ostracized, which means patrols…and I fully expect the Empire would try to provoke her.” Emily shook her head at the idea.

“You wouldn’t even need the Empire,” Armsmaster finally said, “Given her propensity to panic, more than a few of Uber and Leet’s shows might panic her and…”

“Red mist on the Boardwalk.” Assault filled in.”Why not send her to another department?”

“I would if I could, but her parents reside in this city and are already talking about rebuilding their home.”

“Uh… after the Empire?”

“The Clements family immigrated to the Bay in the 1850s. After they got over the shock of the attack, they responded to suggestions that they move to a friendlier location… poorly.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Assault said. “We have an Alexandria-tier cape, who looks to be trying to make good. But she’s prone to panic, half the people in the Bay hate her, the Nazis want to create an incident, and her Parents got a case of ‘nobody chases us out of our home’.  Man, I can see why you earn the big bucks!”

Emily stared at him, then nodded, and smiled, enjoying the way Assault looked suddenly nervous. “You’re right, Assault. And I think you are perfectly suited to working with our psychologists to try to help Madison fit in.”

His expression said it all. But Emily had another reason. As Madcap, Assault had kept more than a few people out of the Birdcage who made Madison’s sins look minor. So hopefully he’d be able to work with her.

And yes, his expression was a rare highlight to her day.

*****

“Sorry Boss,” Tattletale didn’t sound sorry, but Coil didn’t rise to her barb. “We were gonna lose her anyway, but the Empire really sealed the deal.”

“What about the Investigator?” 

“Smart. Hard to get a read on her emotions, which is really unusual.” Tattletale paused. “But now that I think about it, I don’t know how much of her words were learning stuff and how much were saying things, then gauging my reaction. Everything she said was… vague enough that it could apply to a lot of situations.”

Coil filed that for further research. Lisa hated the implication that she wasn’t the smartest person in the room, and that could lead her down blind alleys.

He’d split the timeline the moment they’d encountered The Investigator. In one timeline, Crusader had killed The Investigator and Madison had killed several gang members, before running off in hysterics. He’d dropped that, and resplit the timeline.

Madison wasn’t an issue. As weak willed, and eager to please as she was,  she’d be a non-entity, for all of her power. When Coil took over the Bay, she’d be useful as a cape redemption story, trotted out from the Wards when he needed her.

“And The Investigator during the fight?”

“Good. Probably a minor combat thinker.”

“Tattletale, I want you to start making plans to bring The Investigator on board. Hopefully now that you know who she is…”

There was a brief, seething silence. Coil smiled. He wasn’t going to let her forget she’d been standing next to a parahuman and hadn’t noticed.

“Right, boss.”

“Good.”

Coil looked around his office. So, it didn’t happen. The reason he’d kept the timeline going, instead of just defaulting to a safer one.

Orb Weaver hadn’t appeared. Not when The Investigator was injured, not when she was killed.

Coil had been worried about Orb Weaver. He didn’t know enough about him.

But now he knew Orb Weaver didn’t consider The Investigator that important. Not important enough to watch full time or avenge.

And so…

Now Coil could set his plans in motion. After all, The Investigator had cost him one thinker.

It was only right that she provide the replacement.